Unmanned aircraft or aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide enhanced and economical access to areas where manned flight operations are unacceptably costly and/or dangerous. For example, UAVs outfitted with remotely controlled cameras can perform a wide variety of surveillance missions, including spotting schools of fish for the fisheries industry, monitoring weather conditions, providing border patrols for national governments, and providing military surveillance before, during and/or after military operations.
Existing UAV systems suffer from a variety of drawbacks. For example, existing UAVs systems (which can include the aircraft itself along with launch devices, recovery devices, and storage devices) typically require substantial space. Accordingly, these systems can be difficult to install and operate in cramped quarters, such as the deck of a small fishing boat, land vehicle, or other craft. Another drawback with some existing UAVs is that, due to small size and low weight, they can be subjected to higher acceleration and deceleration forces than larger, manned aerial vehicles and can accordingly be prone to damage, particularly when manually handled during recovery and launch operations in hostile environments, such as a heaving ship deck. Yet another drawback with some existing UAV systems is that they may not be suitable for recovering aircraft in tight quarters, without causing damage to either the aircraft or the platform from which the aircraft is launched and/or recovered. Accordingly, there remains a need in the industry for improved methods for operating UAVs in confined environments.